Finland 2013-11-23

“Very good judo and very poor judo!”

With a lot of work both on the phone and by e-mail so I went stressed out to the Arlnda airport in Stockholm. Once at the airport, I realized that the plane that we would take, would not lift for about 3 ½ hours?! Now I just had to wait out my other referee colleagues Magnus Ask and Johnnie Daniels, but I got some work done anyway while I waited. Our referee Sofie Damberg would connect with us later in Finland at the hotel.

Johnnie Daniels had been a little bit of the group’s organizer with our travel, reservations etc. so he had  an overview position… Once in Finland we hired a rent car and drove to the hotel. The journey there took about 2 hours. Once at the hotel we checked in and joined the rest of the swedes who were there to compete. Then referee Sofie Damberg joined us there.

 

On Saturday the competition day started with a messy referee meeting where half of the referees who were called up wasn’t there, however there were other referees on spot. When all this had been straightened out, we were about 40 referees divided into five mats which meant we got 2 teams/mat. Me and Magnus Ask ended up on the same competiotion-mat but in different teams. Referee Sofie Damberg and Johnnie Daniels ended up at different mats.

The man who lifted the referee meeting was that we would follow the new IJF 2013 competition rules:

• IPPON on bridge landing is when the head and at least one foot in the mat, if the shoulders in it’s not an IPPON .
• A hold which is outside the edge of the mat and switched roles will be replaced without stopping the fight.
•  TOKETA and a new hold delay to start. This is not a MATE!
• IPPON is IPPON and should be assessed as that.
• WAZARI is more than YOKU but less than IPPON.
• YOKU is when side of the body lands on the mat, the distance between the mat and the body because a arm is not a YOKU .

The competition had been limited to 600 participants from Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Russia, Azerbajdzjan and Kazakhstan. Over 200 russians participants were denied to compete by the organizers. According to the timetable we would have the last weight class began at 18:30 in a hall that was full of participants, was uncleaned and also mouldy. Luckily our coffee was free.

The competition started with the lighter categories U13 + U15 and then ends with the juniors. Quality? Yes … At the referee side it was very irregular. The level of knowledge was in some cases very low. I had a good flow on my mat though where we had good teamwork and most of it worked out well. Referee Magnus Ask had some bad luck on his mat when we sometimes wondered if the referees there was really were awake?! We worked in teams which was great when the hall had poor air conditioning. But we then could have a longer rest for recovery.

When it comes to the judoquality that we refereed, it could be incredibly nice and technical but it could also be the other way around. The worst thing I saw was a girl at +52 kg that came up to compete, greeted and then nothing more happened from her. She didn’t move much at all. She managed to get a Hasokumake within 1 minute and the first warning was verbal! Why do you even compete with that approach? Another match, it was also a girl who fled the mat again and again…. so boring! Another sad reflection was to see how the Russian coaches treated their participants. That russian method is not consistent with what judo stands for !

When the competition was over just before 21:00 o’clock we then make it back to the hotel for a much needed dinner. Referee Johnnie Daniels, Magnus Ask and I talked about the day while many others arrived and gave us great praise for our work. Many thought the swedish referees lifted the level among the other referees there. The organizers would love to get us back next year…

Another reflection was that many were very pleased that all the referees were sober this year? What! For me this was my first Finnish Open and I had a little trouble to take in all the information as described in previous years where the judgement wasn’t on top. On Sunday we went back to the airport and then flew home again to sweden. I personally had an incredibly good trip with plenty of laughs, nice travel companions, good judokas and a new experience richer when it comes to judo competitions.

By the keys 

Manuel Santos

Swedish Referee